Denying historical facts, especially on such an important subject as the Holocaust, is just not acceptable. Nor is it acceptable to call for the elimination of any State or people. I would like to see this fundamental principle respected both in rhetoric and in practice by all the members of the international community.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
27 January is the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp. 70 years have already passed and a lot has been done since the end of WWII. For instance, the same 70 years have passed since the establishment of the United Nations, which was deeply shaped by the experience of the Holocaust.
In 2005 the General Assembly of the UN adopted by consensus a resolution on the Holocaust Remembrance and designated January 27th as the International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust. In addition, Member States were urged to develop educational programmes that provide next generations with the experience and lessons of the Holocaust in order to avoid future acts of genocide through knowledge and understanding. In the aftermath, the Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research was commended.
We study history in order to learn, what to be proud of, and what to learn from. If we want to build and structure our future in a sustainable way, we need to remember the past, and in certain cases commit to “Never again!”. Taking the Holocaust Remembrance Day as a starting point for learning and commemorating the genocide that resulted in the death of an estimated 6 million Jews, 1 million Gypsies, 250,000 mentally and physically disabled people, and 9,000 homosexual men by the Nazi regime and its collaborators, we are now in the position to move forward.
The UN resolution condemned “without reserve” all manifestations of religious intolerance, incitement, harassment or violence against persons or communities based on ethnic origin or religious belief, whenever they occur. However moving forward doesn’t mean only new resolutions, high-ranked meetings and declarations. If not applied in practice all these statements remain useless. Checking with contemporary reality, we can draw a series of conclusions, but what we know from the first sight is that intolerance is still far from ending.
High level examples of a step forward around us – they are numerous, however, we can do better, on a grassroots level. By trusting in, promoting and defending core values as intercultural dialogue and the free exchange of ideas through people-to-people contacts, we as citizens stand for the principles of human rights for all peoples around the world: an invisible step that could bring us closer to a world of tolerance and cooperation.
Sources:
- un.org/en/holocaustremembrance/
- un.org/en/holocaustremembrance/2015/calendar2015.html
